Oil output in South Sudan has slipped to below 65% of pre-conflict levels, as the ethnically fueled crisis continues to hamper efforts to stabilize oil operations.

Now well into its sixth month, the conflict pitting South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir against his former Vice President Riek Machar is continuing to hit the country’s main source of state revenues: its oil production. Having been as high as 245,000 b/d in late 2013, oil production in the world’s newest nation has nosedived to just 155,000 b/d, according to government officials, though independent analysis points to below the 150,000 b/d mark. (CONTINUED - 1082 WORDS)